LTNNEAN SOCIETY OF LONDON. 1 5 



ihe changes of climate in the northern latitudes, or to co-exist 

 with the large Carnivora, and especially with man, in the more 

 congenial South*. But there are two spots on tiie earth where 

 they continued to flourish to within a centuiy or two of our time : 

 viz., Madagascar and the neighbouring islands in tlie Western 

 Indian Ocean, and the Galapagos Arcliipelago in the Ea^stern- 

 most part of the Pacific. 



The historical evidence of tlu'ir existence in Madigasear is 

 extremely scanty and vague f. They had been cleared olf from 

 the inhabited parts of the island at the time wfien the first 

 Europeans landed. If any of them had existed near the dis- 

 tricts occupied by the French settlors of the seventeenth century, 

 they would have been mentioned in some of the reports oa the 

 natural productions of the country w^hich these people sent 

 home. But their osseous remains, some in very perfect con- 

 dition, and of comparatively recent appearance, show that these 

 animals were at one time widely spi-ead over the island ; they 

 are often found associated with bones of ^Epyornithes, Hippo- 

 potamu-*, cattle, and belong to two or three species. Their 

 extermination probably began with the arrival of mau in Mada- 

 gascar ; and it is highly improbable, though by no means 

 impossible, that some individuals liave survived and still linger 

 in the vast tracts of country which are still unexplored. 



Very ditferent were the conditions of life in the islands which 

 are scattered over the ocean in a semicircle round the north of 

 Madagascar. With the excej^tion of the Comoro group, none of 

 these islands were inhabited by man or large mammals. Conse- 

 quently the Tortoises lived there in absolute security for ages, 

 and multiplied to a degree which excited the admiration of 

 all the early European visitors. They occupied in incredible 

 numbers not only the larger islands of the Aldabra group, the 

 Seychelles, Reunion, Mauritius, Rodriguez, but also the small 

 ones with an area of a few square miles only, and with their 

 highest points raised scarcely 100 feet above the level of the 

 water, provided that the coral soil produced a sulficieut amount 

 of vegetation to supply them with food aud shelter from the 

 Run. Of this we have not only the testimony of trustworthy 

 voyagers of the last two centuries, but the direct evidence of 

 remains which accident now and then brings to the surface. A 

 short time ago I received from my friend, Di\ Bruce, a I'esident 

 at Mahe, to whom many a naturalist is iudtbted for assistance 

 and hospitality, the well-preserved ei:fi;-sheiis of a gigantic 

 Laud-Tortoise, imbedded in a conglomerated mass of corul-kand. 

 Tliey came from a small island of the Amirante group, on which 

 Dr. Bruce formed a plantation of Coconut-palms, aud on which 



* Lydekker (lo), p. 164. 



t For instance, " Nous les [le3 tortues de tcrre] faisons venir des Seychelles 

 et de Madagascar, q:; bientot ne pourront plus nous en fouruir." Billiard, 

 Voj'. ^ux Colonies orient. : Paris, 1822, p. 451. 



